AF enquiry/stroke

[jackbe3]

I have been diagnosed with AF and doctor wants me to take flecainide and I take cartia for clot risk, sometimes I get dizzy and little headache sometimes, could this be danger of stroke or is it to do with AF. HAVE MOSTLY SLOW HEART BEAT AND IRREGULAR SOMETIMES.

[jackbe3]

Thank you again Midijane;
Your advice is really helpfull and encouraging and I appreciate your help... plus what a smile!.. Will keep you in the loop if thats ok after the proceedure, it was a real bit of confusement for a while there because one Dr wanted to do ablation for a while but then he went with other cardiologist ideas re my low heart rate most of the time and now feel a pacer is probably the way to go. be glad one way or the other as it drives me crazy the way when it happens you feel like you have run a marathon when you`ve just gone up a few stairs. anyway thank you once again Midijane and hope you have a lovely day.

[Midijane]

Not surprised. When a person has Afib with a high and low heart rate it is called tachy-brady syndrome and the treatment is a pacemaker. Didnt want to get into that earlier.

Dont worry one bit if you need a pacer. Its a very quick simple procedure they do in the cath lab at a hospital, it takes about 20-30 minutes and you are in and out. A person has to wear a sling around their arm (usually the left arm since they most often put pacers in on the left side... Better access to the heart that way), for about 48hours after the pacer is placed. Folks can often go home that day or sometimes the doc will have them stay overnight just to monitor for the evening. Honestly not a big deal although Im sure I would feel anxious if it were me. Anyway, trynot to sweat it. Whatever happens, youll do jsut fine.

Stay in touch and let us know what happens.

Also, it wont affect your sports/activity level. Youll jump back into things quickly if you do need a pacer.

[jackbe3]

Thank you for your input and time, much appreciated Midijane,
Finding it so hard to come to terms with this as have always been active sports wise and hard to get my head around it really.. the cardiologist is sending me to see a surgeon after christmas to get his views re a double lead pacemaker which freaks me out a bit as was hoping to fix just with medication like tambocor/flecainide... do you know is it safe to still exercise like jogging or swimming, sometimes I do this and feel ok other times a couple of hours later it hits me.

[Midijane]

Hello,

My guess is that the dizziness and headache may be caused more by your medication than Afib. Symptoms of stroke can include dizziness among them, but usually other symptoms are going on that would lead a Cardiologist to investigate further.

I have seen cases of Afib and low heart rates but they are not as common.

I would just watch to see if the dizziness occurs when your heart rate is low (less than 60 beats per minute), or if they occur soon after you have taken your medication.

If the dizziness persists or seems to get worse in time, I would probably call my Cardiologists office and ask for an appointment to talk further with your doctor. No sense in worrying or feeling bad when a doctor could reassure things are ok, or make a medication dose adjustment or change you to another medication altogether.

Feel better.

[Jerry_NJ]

The main concerns/risks of Atrial Fibrillation are:
1) clots which can lead to a stork
2) high HR which can lead to heart failure (here I'm talking about HRs way up there no low HR, that is unusual for AFib, as far as I know).